WRAPTORS - Held High (CD)

Now here’s a band I can’t make heads or tails of. It’s actually quite funny, since I haven’t heard anything like this in a long time… actually never I guess. Wraptors mixes so many different elements, from seventies hard rock, sixties rock to quirky pop to pure musical insanity. Sometimes I hear a little touch of Them Crooked Vultures or Foo Fighters, but with a totally different sound, mostly in the way they turn rhythms and riffs around. There’s almost a touch of Devo mixed with Zappaesque weirdness, but all held together with a hard rock attitude and a powerful delivery. The guitar sound is quite clean, but still edgy enough to sound rough and raw. It’s very dynamic, but if you’d try to dance to a track like Stoked On Stakes you’d only last for four bars before you’d get stuck in a twisted rhythm pattern and fall over. It’s by no means music for the faint hearted and I don’t expect Wraptors to be on the radio’s A-list, but I really enjoy the album. I can’t even seem to skip to the next track as I can’t wait to hear what will happen next, which is a good thing. This is definitely an album that will grow by every listen, and I assure you it’ll take quite a few to get to grips with the Wraptors’ musical schizophrenia.
Janne Stark
Country: Sweden
Year: 2011
Label: Rakamarow 
Link: www.wraptors.se

GUITAR PETE - Raw Deal (CD)

This is the second Grooveyard release from guitarist/singer Peter Vincent Brasino. To be honest I felt the name Guitar Pete sounded a bit cheesy. Well, an easy way to get the smirk outta my face was to put on the CD. Pete produced heavy, gritty riff-based blues rock with guitars thick as a brick wall. He reminds me, both his musical style and vocals, a bit of Michael Katon, which is really good in my book. The songs are really well constructed in a genre that can sometimes get a bit run of the mill. Pete is a great guitarist with a great bluesy flow in his playing. Pete also does a great heavy rendition of Skynyrd’s old Gimme Back my Bullets. My only complaint would be the boring and unbluesy drummer who unfortunately just can’t get his playing to groove. This flaw aside it’s a damn fine album for fans of gritty, balls-out heavy blues rock.
Janne Stark
Label: Grooveyard Records
Year: 2011
Country: USA
Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com 

GUGUN POWER TRIO - Solid Ground (CD)

I just loved the first Grooveyard release by Indonesian Gugun Power Trio. Power trio certainly being the label of the day here. Gugun is a killer guitarist and an awesome bluesy singer, which he and his fellows drummer Bowie and bass player Jono, immediately proves in the opening title track. Groovy, bluesy, rockin’ and something it’s totally impossible not to play air guitar to. Holy crap, this rocks!! It’s got the classic riff-oriented Hendrixy vibe to it that I love. The album grooves, it sways and it swaggers. It’s a versatile album within the limits of blues rock. There’s the funky vibe in tracks like One Heavy Night and Vixen Eyes, the shuffle groove in Mission, the cool blues in Trampled Rose, the up-tempo strut in Silent Rider, yes, Solid Ground has it all. What I also love is that Gugun adopts his sound to fit the songs. It’s not just one album-one sound. He turns the distortion up when it’s required, adds some wah when it fits and keeps it quite clean when the song needs it. This is definitely one of my favourite blues rock albums of the year!
Janne Stark 
Country: Indonesia
Year: 2011
Label: Grooveyard Records
Link: www.grooveyardrecords.com 

THE FLYIN' RYAN BROTHERS - Under The Influence (CD)

American quintet The Flyin’ Ryan Brothers may sound like it, but it’s by no means a circus act. But… If you, however, would compare music to a circus The Flyin’ Ryan Brothers would be people on the trapeze, flying weightlessly back and forth through the air, doing somersaults and all types of daring tricks that makes you gasp for air. This is what their music sounds like. Instrumental, guitar-driven bluesy rock with things happening all over the place, but still so graceful and with immense beauty. Harmonies to the left and right, intense drumming from the late Johnny Mrozek and outstanding bass playing from William Kopecky. I, of course, can’t help comparing the band to Wishbone Ash. I love Wishbone Ash, but to be honest I don’t think they have ever recorded an album as consistent as Under The Influence. There are usually a couple of tracks I don’t really care for, but this one is 13 out of 13. Great melodies, really soulful and tasteful guitar playing ranging from soft melodic passages to full on bluesy shredding. Also, Wishbone Ash, besides being a vocal band, tends to become a bit too pop at times, whereas The Flyin’ Ryan Brothers always spice things up a bit. This is definitely one instrumental album where I don’t miss the vocals at all. No need for them whatsoever. The guitars more than well make up for them. The songs are well-written with great arrangements and they are anything but one-dimensional. There are lots of nice layers with things popping out here and there, like the effects in Loco Motive which just adds a subtle layer that doesn’t meddle with the great build up and trade-offs of the guitar harmony work. This is one album that I will have a hard time getting out of my CD player!
Janne Stark
Label: Grooveyard Record
Year: 2011
Country: USA
Link:  www.grooveyardrecords.com

JARLE H OLSEN – Quadrasonic (CD)

Norway hasn’t really provided that many international shredders, besides Ronnie Le Tekro and a handfull others. Now, young stringsman Jarle H Olsen is here to change that. His first solo album Quadrasonic is a really impressive affair. It’s actually been some time since I found an instrumental progressive album this interesting. With Jarle it’s not just the shredding that is in focus, it’s just as much about the songs. What I really like is that this actually feels more like a band effort, than a regular guitarist-shredding-his-ass-off album. Sure, there is tons of great soloing, but the songs are structured more like songs with vocals. You have your verses, choruses and bridges, although quite a lot of bridges here. The songs, like Dark Matter for instance, have great build ups, with nice dynamics happening. Here Jarle also shows a softer and more balanced side, without any overpowering distortion. There’s also a great explosive technical part in the end, where things happen all over the place. I also love the fact that he’s using real live, and outstanding, musicians to back him up. They do need to be mentioned, so here it goes: the outstanding technical drummer Bjarte K. Helland, Norway’s answer to Mike Portnoy, bass player Rodrigo Garcia who lays down a great foundation, plus proves he’s quite the technical player as well, and finally keyboard player Alex Argento whose playing may not be highly noticeable in some songs (you would definitely notice if it wasn’t there, though), while he really shines in songs like Event Horizon. Quadrasonic is a great album, at times in the same vein as George Bellas, before he started experimenting too much. Great songs, great playing, great production, a sure buy!
Janne Stark
Label: private press
Year: 2011
Country: Norway
Link: http://www.jarleholsen.com/

JÄRNET (CD)

Heavy rock in Swedish? Oh yeah, it’s been done since the dawn of time, meaning November did it already in 1970. That worked. Since then there’s been quite a few and right now there are Horisont, Abramis Brama, Gudars Skymning, and of course S.K.U.R.K, who uses their secret weapon, called “brutal skånska”. Järnet grew out of heavy rock trio AMP, lead by singer/guitarist Per Nilsson. I was expecting the same heaviness, but sung in Swedish, which would’ve worked fine for me. However, Järnet draws from a different musical source. This is leaning more towards garage rock, at times almost new wave. I’m not really sure if I like that. Gata upp & gata ner reminds me quite a lot of Nationalteatern’s Livet är en fest, which I did like… back then, and it has its nostalgia value today. Sorry, but this doesn’t work well for me at all. It feels way to puberty for me. Punkish football choirs just don’t do it for me anymore. It worked ok at parties in the late seventies, but even though I’m a huge fan of the seventies, this is something I don’t really wish to bring back. Sorry boys, but I liked it better the old way, the AMP-way.

Janne Stark
Year: 2011
Label: private
Country: Sweden
Link: www.facebook.com/jarnetsweden

CORE OF NATION - Septor Of Doom (MCD)

Swedish doomsters Core Of Nation have been at it for a while, but only released one CD prior to this. Septor Of Doom is a 6-track MCD in a cardboard cover. The choice of cover, Black Sabbath’s Electric Funeral, definitely shows the musical direction of the band. This release also marks the debut for new singer Andreas Hedman, formerly with Scaar. The CD opens with Black Temple, a doomy riffster in the vein of classic Candlemass. It sets the direction of the record and also shows Hedman is a singer well suited for the heavy riffing, similar to the way Johan Längquist fit into the first Candlemass album. Not in the same class, I should add, but still ok. I wish he would let loose a bit more, as he tends to sound a bit stiff in the long run. There can be feeling in doom as well. Musically it’s heavy and it’s slow, but it’s not boring. They do succeed in keeping it interesting enough to keep listening. Nice guitar harmonies spice it up a bit here and there. The cover of Electric Funeral then? Well, first of all, having the balls to take on such a classic gem is ballsy! The result? Well, I’ll give it 2.5 out of 5. It’s just a regular “let’s-play-a-Black-Sabbath-song-coz-we-like-it” version. No personal touches or re-arrangements worth mentioning. Plus the vocals are not really up to par with the original, again because of the lack of feeling. Still, I don’t mind listening to it. The closing track Two Suns is a pretty cool semi-ballad type song adding a bit of spacey experimental seventies effects, which makes it a bit more interesting. The tempo change in the end also adds some new textures to the song. Like I said, not bad at all, but I think the next one will be more interesting!
Janne Stark
Label: Doom Dwarf Records
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.coreofnation.com/

HELLSPRAY - Part Of The Solution (CD)

Jönköping’s Hellspray released their debut a couple of years ago, a really great melodic rocker. They are now back, armed to the teeth and with a new singer. Anders Moberg is more of a gritty rocker, which fits the bands down and dirty hard rock in a perfect way. At times he reminds me of Zakk Wylde, but with more finesse and a wider vocal range. There are some similarities with Black Label Society when it comes to opener Spinesless as well, but like with the vocals, there’s the variety and dynamics I sometimes miss in BLS. The adopt a pretty doomy aura in some tracks, such as Count Your Blessings, where the intro feels like the soundtrack to a nightmare. They however add a melodic feel which changes the picture as it moves on. In Mr Hyde the scene is totally different, almost moving into some high speed power metal territory with a neo-classical touch to the riffing. Interesting. Part Of The Solution is a really great follow-up to the debut, showing a band that has indeed taken their style and sound a step further. This is some heavy shit, man!
Janne Stark
Year: 2011
Label: Perris
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.hellspray.com/

GRAND ILLUSION - Prince Of Paupers (CD)

Already after the first track Gates Of Fire I was totally blown away by Peter Sundell’s vocals! I mean, I have heard him before and I do have the band’s previous releases, but either I’ve forgotten just how good he is or he’s brought it up a notch here. He truly sings his ass off, bringing out notes higher than Mount Everest! Grand Illusion is nothing for fans of metal, 70s heavy rock or stoner. If you on the other hand have a soft spot for bands like Journey, Airborne, Sheriff, Trillion, Touch, Styx (from whom I presume the band name was taken – one of the best pomp albums ever) or high class pompy AOR in general, this one’s for you. Grand Illusion is a Swedish trio comprised of musical multi-genius Anders Rydholm, singer Peter Sundell and backing vocalist Per Svensson. At their hand on this album they have killer musicians such as drummer Greg Bisonette and a bunch of really great guitars from Steve Lukather, Tim Pierce, Jay Gradon and Muris Varajic. The songs are very well arranged with lots of twists and turns, still with infectious choruses. Even though we’re talking melodies all over the place, there are some quite biting guitars. Just check out the awesome riffing in the title track. I won’t go into every track, it’s kinda no point since there’s not a weak track on the entire album! If you intend to purchase only one AOR album this year, well, no need to look further!

Janne Stark
Label: AOR Heaven
Year: 2011
Country: Sweden
Link: http://www.grand-illusion.se/